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Antiwar sentiment pervades film ceremonies
©Associated Press The Pianist, Roman Polanski's searing film about a young Polish musician's fight for survival during the Holocaust, won best film and best director Sunday at the British Academy Film Awards in London, and also swept the annual French movie awards Saturday. Polanski, the Paris-born Polish director, was a mighty presence at the ceremony even in his absence. The film's American star, Adrien Brody, accepted the best director prize on Polanski's behalf, saying he was "a brilliant filmmaker ... (who) over time has had an enormous amount of loss in his life." A child of the Holocaust, Polanski, 69, suffered the murder of his first wife, Sharon Tate, in 1969. "I appreciate you, Roman," Brody said, "and you deserve this." The previous night, Brody won the French Cesar prize for best actor. That ceremony was marked by several American stars using their speeches to thank France for its opposition to war against Iraq. American director Spike Lee won a career award and thanked the French for "knowing the difference between the American people and American foreign policy." In impeccable French, Meryl Streep accepted her own career prize "in the spirit of international understanding." Michael Moore won for best foreign film with Bowling for Columbine. The audience rose to its feet when he applauded France for trying to slow the U.S. drive to war with Iraq, saying "there are millions of Americans" who feel the same. "Thanks for showing us the way, and for taking up a position on something very important," he said. "A real ally, a real friend, is someone who tells you when you're wrong." Looming war also was a theme Sunday in London as Spanish director Pedro Almodovar accepted prizes for his latest film, Talk To Her. Remarking from the stage that "cinema and war are two very different things," Almodovar said while accepting the first of his two trophies that, in movies, "even darkness is made of light," as opposed to the contemporary "army of darkness" that, at the moment, is intent on war, he said. In an evening in which no one film dominated proceedings, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers took the most awards: visual effects, costumes and Orange Film of the Year, given by the cell phone company, Orange, to the most popular movie in Britain during 2002. Oscar front-runners Nicole Kidman and Daniel Day-Lewis won top acting prizes for their performances in The Hours and Gangs of New York, respectively. Two other Oscar hopefuls took "Baftas" in the supporting actor and actress categories: Christopher Walken as a con man's defeated father in Catch Me If You Can and an exuberant Catherine Zeta-Jones as the high-kicking murderess, Velma Kelly, in Chicago. Chicago and Gangs of New York received 24 nominations between them but won only three awards, while The Hours, with 11 nominations, won only for Kidman's portrayal of Virginia Woolf and composer Philip Glass' surging score. The critically acclaimed Adaptation -- which was screened for Bafta members but has yet to open commercially in Britain -- beat The Hours to take best adapted screenplay for brothers Charlie and Donald Kaufman. Since Donald Kaufman is an invention of the writer and does not exist, and Charlie Kaufman was unable to attend, the prize was accepted by the film's co-star, Streep. "How thrilling not to have it be about me," joked Streep, who went on to read aloud a fax from Kaufman that constituted the night's funniest comic turn. "This man is out of his mind," said Streep, laughing as she made her way through Kaufman's thanks.
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From the wire |
